notes from Terry Ann

Wowie Zowie look at those prizes!

We had such a huge number of comments it took us a while to randomly pull three names that commented on all of the 12 Cross Country Christmas blogs. But we finally did it . . .

Thank you for sharing your comments and stories with us! It has been so rewarding for us to hear your feedback about our stories, hear your memories, and see your excitement about the projects. So many of you have made the projects and loaded your photos on the Flickr site. Wow!

This is what the winners are getting!!! Isn't this incredible? These are books, patterns, kits, tools and fabrics that all of us have designed or companies that we work with have graciously donated. The prizes will be divided between the winners.

So here they are.....the big winners:

1st grand prize goes to: Thea M  www.theamccurry.com

2nd grand prize goes to: Arlette from Costa Rica http://arlette0521.blogspot.com/

3rd grand prize goes to: What Comes Next   http://round22.blogspot.com/

Congratulations girls!! Please send an e-mail to Gudrun ([email protected]) with your shipping address so she can send you those awesome prizes.

 

Another Chance to Win!!

Yes, we are giving you another chance to win some of the prizes in the picture if you post a picture of your finished project on the Flickr site. You will have until Tuesday December 1st to upload your photos. We will then draw the name of one lucky person to receive some goodies. Instructions on how to upload a photo are on the Flickr page. This gives you an extra week to get some of these finished and snap a photo.

Gingerbread extravaganza!

The first thing I did when I got to Rochester, NY today was visit the Eastman House, where in addition to touring the beautiful house and museum, I got to see the 14th annual gingerbread house auction. The 67 gingerbread houses were made by amateur and professional bakers - and I was amazed by the creativity.

 

This Bed and Breakfast is perfect in every detail - and I love the realistic snow on the roof.

 

Here's the Geva Theater Center. The gingerbread is smooth and no cracks in these big pieces - mine is never this flat!

 

Because I was a Girl Scout and a Girl Scout leader, I especially liked the ones made by Girl Scout troops. This one is called "Girl Scout Peace Village". You can tell the girls had a great time decorating the little cabins!

 

This blue beauty was made by a Brownie troop. The blue pond has a mirror for the water - but you can barely see it under all of the blue sugar!

Not all of the entries were houses - here is the inside of a bedroom with every detail in place! (click on it to see the quilts on the beds!)

 

These monkeys live in a "Monkey Condo". I wanted to taste that chocolate frosting!

 

Here's the Rochester skyline made out of gingerbread. I didn't see much of the real skyline because it's rainy and foggy today - good thing I got to see it here!

 

Back in Elk River, this is the only gingerbread we've gotten done this year - for some reason we've already been in the mood to work on Christmas puzzles. Maybe after Thanksgiving we'll bake some gingerbread houses!

Tomorrow I'll be giving a Lecture for Sew on Sew Forth in Rochester, and then on Saturday I'll do another lecture in Buffalo. I hope to see some of you blog hoppers there!

Today is Linda's special day to share a great project with you - and we've saved the best for last - her project was definitely worth waiting for!!

It's our final day of the Cross Country Christmas blog hop and the last day to get a comment on each designer's blog - remember that if you comment all 12 designers you're eligible for one of the three grand prizes! The winners will be announced on Tuesday - so you have the whole weekend to catch up on all the projects and stories and leave comments on all 12 blogs!

Pretend this is my house

 
Just the other day I showed you some fabrics, with the promise that I would post pictures of the quilt in progress during the blog hop, ending with the finished quilt in my living room. I cut the strips and started sewing. Let's pretend that I finished it . . . here is what it will look like:

 

This is the Between Friends quilt that I fell in love with at the Bear Patch Quilt Shop. It's from my Happy Hour book. I actually do have some blocks done, but since I'm on my way to Buffalo in New York I can't take a picture of them - you'll have to take my word for it. It's gonna look really good in my living room because one of the walls is turquoise. Maybe even this Christmas!

Here's a Butterfly Trails quilt from Time Out Quilts on the turquoise wall - and a Stars and Strips quilt on the chair. This is not how my living room usually looks - picture it with the quilt rumpled up and a kitty napping on it.

 

Of course this is not my dining room table - you know my Christmas table has red Fiesta! It's from a wine/cheese/decorating event called "The Affair" that I went to a few weeks ago in Minneapolis. I accidentally stumbled upon the event because it was right next door to the Sewing Expo. They had a table decorating contest with elaborate themes. I love the dark brown tablecloth with the greenery and crystal.

 

Here's a Dr. Zhivago table - so wintry with the fur napkin rings.

 

This is more my style - a Happy Holidays runner with a candy cane/candle centerpiece - plus it looks great with my red Fiesta dinnerware!

 

A few years ago I got this great little lime green tabletop tree on sale. I've been collecting bright colored ornaments to go with it, but those ornaments may never see the light of day. My family is very traditional, and the kids threaten mutiny if I put this tree up. They want our traditional tree -preferably with the old fashioned big lights. I did get to use this tree in a picture for my Fat Quarter Fonts book - the quilt is called "I Spy Christmas" and I used a charm pack of Sandy Gervais fabric. My family suggested that I could get the book out and look at the picture any time I want to see my lime green tree . . .

Today is Roseann's special day to share a great pattern with you - and with the overload of creative juices that flow through her brain you know it will be wonderful!

I can't wait to hop to all of the other Cross Country Christmas blogs today to see how the other designers decorate with quilts during the holiday season!

The best gifts are from kids!

Derek and Megan each made an animal in grade school art class and gave it to me. I love these animals and I keep them right by my computer.  Megan asked me why still have them - now that she's older she thinks they didn't turn out that great. I told her that I'm a mom and I don't see animals - I see the personality of the kid that made it!

Derek's teacher had the kids make alligators. He practiced making the scales with pla-doh after school every day so that when he started his project at school it would turn out just right. Megan's teacher let them choose any animal - and she made a grey cat because she loved our cat Smiley. I can picture her feeling and squishing the clay - she has always enjoyed the process more than the end result. What a gift to have two such different kids!

 Hop over to Carrie's blog today. She has a free pattern that is sure to become a favorite. You still have time to make one for Christmas - get started today! 

During our Cross Country Christmas blog hop, enjoy a free pattern from each of the 12 designers and remember to comment on all 12 blogs to be eligible for a big grand prize!

I'm having a great time meeting you and hearing your Christmas memories!

Can you break the code?

I love how pretty the presents look underneath the tree! After the kids no longer believed in Santa I thought we could enjoy having the presents under the tree before Christmas. Wrong! Of course the kids could read their names and they counted how many they each had and tried to figure out what was in the packages. So the next year I didn't put any names on the presents - I numbered them. One of them got all of the the even numbered presents, and the other one got all of the odd numbered presents.

A new tradition had begun - and after that there was a new "code" every year. One year, Megan's numbers were divisible by 5  and Derek's were divisible by 3. Another year she had bows and he didn't. Another year I used paper in warm colors for one and paper in cool colors for the other. As the kids got older and smarter I had to get creative. I would answer yes and no questions as they tried to break the code and they usually were able to figure it out before Christmas. The only code they never cracked was the year I used h,n, and e for Megan (she went to Handke School) and the letters s, l, and k for Derek (he went to Salk Junior High). What fun!

Don't forget to hop over to Sherri's  today for her brand new pattern - and remember to leave a comment so you are eligible for her giveaway!

Christmas is for children, and the other designers in the Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop will each share a story about children today.

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

My very first Christmas tree was a Charlie Brown tree - but I loved it. Since my mom was coming for Christmas, I knew the tree could only be up for a few weeks because of her allergies. But I wanted a tree! So one Sunday, Kirk and I went tree shopping at Frank's Nursery. We had a great time looking at each and every $10 tree - almost collapsing in fits of giggles because the trees were so funny looking. We chose one that wasn't too bad, and then had even more fun trying to get it in the trunk of the car. We carried it into the apartment building like a battering ram, and when we got it up to the third floor we dropped it because we were laughing so hard. We finally got it set up in the living room and I realized there weren't any ornaments. No big deal - I strung some popcorn, turned on the lights, and enjoyed my Charlie Brown tree.

Today is Terri's special day to share a great pattern with you - remember to hop on over to her blog for a great project!

I haven't even read the newspaper since we started the Cross Country Christmas blog hop - every morning I go straight to my computer to read everyone's stories! I'm really enjoying getting to know the other designers better and it's amazing how many things we have in common! My daughter and I love to do puzzles together like Terri's family - it's hard to walk in our living room because our puzzle table takes up so much space! And our kitty likes to sleep up in the branches of our Christmas tree too.

#7: Grandmother's wreath

When my grandmother lived in a senior apartment building, the residents decorated their doors for every holiday. I made a wreath like this for my grandmother's door. The other ladies thought it was so cute that they pulled and picked at the stitches to try and figure out how it was made.  Within a few days it looked kind of raggedy and most of the pom poms fell off. So she took it down and decided not to put any decorations up at all - ever again. 

Here's how I made the wreath: Use knitting worsted and a size H crochet hook. Round 1: single crochet around a 5" metal ring. Round 2: Chain 5. (triple crochet, ch 2) 7 times in each stitch. Attach pom poms and a yarn bow with glue.

Today is Kari's turn to share a project - I wonder if she'll use her Clearly Perfect Angles??

Today you can hop around to find out about everyone's decorations - maybe you'll get some inspiration . . . and remember to leave a comment on each designer's blog during the Cross Country Christmas blog hop to become eligible for the three grand prizes!

Pajama time

The one thing that I've learned this week is that none of my pictures are where I think they are . . . yesterday I had to go out into the garage, get the  bears, bring them in the house, and take their picture; today I found the picture I had been looking for! Now, wouldn't it have been easier if the photos were organized? Here's Derek on his first Christmas - when his bear still had a scarf!

 

These pictures were easy to find because they were already in a scrapbook! When the kids were little, I used to make matching pajamas for the cousins, and of course Megan's baby doll had matching jammies too. Megan didn't like being the only one with a nightgown the year she was five, so after that she always got pants like the boys. Darn - it saved a lot of time to make one less pair of bottoms - and of course I always stayed up them really late to finish them on the 23rd! Now that the kids are grown up, we still open just one present on Christmas eve - and it's always new pajamas!

 

Today is Pam's turn to share a project - I wonder if it will have a Christmas scotty dog?? The other designers in our blog hop will be sharing a family tradition - hop around and get to know them better!

Is Santa from the North Pole?

Today is Heather's day to share a project with you - you're gonna love it! Remember to leave a comment on each Designer's blog during the Blog hop to be eligible for one the three grand prizes!

Today as you hop around our Cross Country Christmas blog hop, we'll all share stories about Santa.

Post pictures of your blog hop projects on our Cross Country Christmas flickr account. Go here to upload your photos and see the photo gallery.

In 1986 Derek received a Santa Bear from his Grammy for his first Christmas. Three years later when Megan was born, Grammy got her a "girly" bear with a red mohair sweater. Every year we get the bears out just during December and then put them away when we take the tree down. I can't believe how many of these Santa Bears I've seen in antique shops. I don't mind finding my toys there, but my kids' toys?? I must be getting old!

When I was little, one Christmas morning my older sister pointed out that Santa and my mom had the exact same handwriting. One year, she found a price tag under the department store Santa's beard while she was sitting on his lap . . . and my mom had to explain that he was just Santa's helper.

When Derek figured it out, the first thing he did was tell Megan the news. The next day she told a few of the kids in her class. The teacher took her out in the hall and asked her not to tell anyone else, because believing in Santa was a pretty big deal to some kids and they would find out when they were ready.

Not too long after Derek found out about Santa, he asked "Does that mean the Easter Bunny isn't real either?"

Oh Christmas Tree!

Today is Pat's special day to share a great pattern with you - remember to hop on over to her blog for a great project!

A huge thank you to everyone who commented yesterday - sounds like so many people will be getting  mugs this year - bus drivers, crossing guards, co-workers, college kids, neighbors, and more. Some of you have already started sewing - and great pictures are being posted on flickr.

The randomly chosen winner is Marie, who commented yesterday at 12:35 p.m. She'll win 2 patterns and two books full of fun and easy projects. Congratulations Marie - just send me your email and I'll get your prize in the mail.

Every ornament on my tree has a story, and it's like a trip down memory lane to get the ornaments out each year. When we were first married, my husband's mom let him choose some of her ornaments to put on our tree. The bird nest on a gold clothespin is one that he chose. When I asked him why, he said he just grabbed the ones on top of the box - he didn't really notice ornaments much! (He uses the same method to shop for clothes!) The paper plate ornament was one of Megan's preschool projects - she had a great time squeezing out a glob of glitter glue for each noodle.

The year Derek was in preschool, he he came home the first week with a great big secret. He knew he wasn't supposed to keep secrets from Mom and Dad, so he asked his teacher for permission to tell us. She suggested that he tell us the secret part but that he could wait to tell us about the surprise part. So he told us that she had taken his picture in front of her garden, but it was going to be a surprise how they used the picture for Christmas! Boy were we ever "surprised" when he came home with a special ornament that had his picture in it!

That same year, I was crocheting like mad to get an angel finished for the top of the tree - until one day Derek told me I didn't have to finish it because he had made an angel in preschool that afternoon. It even had a paper towel tube on the back to fit on the top branch. I don't know what ever happened to the crochet angel - because Derek's angel has been on top of our tree every single year!

Be sure and hop over to the other Cross Country Christmas blogs to see what kind of Christmas trees the other designers have - I bet some of them have homemade ornaments too!

Molten Chocolate Mugs

Today is a very important celebration at my house - My daughter Megan's 20th birthday! I think we'll celebrate with Molten Chocolate Cake! When Megan started Kindergarten, I started publishing my quilt patterns, and in the past 15 years, I've published 17 books and over 40 patterns. Whew - I didn't realize it has been so long! I love designing quilts and I seem to always have new ideas brewing.

Today as you hop around our Cross Country Christmas blog hop everyone will share stories about gifts and gift giving.

Pat has started a flicker account for you to share pictures of your blog hop projects. I can't wait to see what everyone is making! Go here to upload your photos and see the photo gallery.

I like to make a stash of quick little gifts to have on hand during the holidays. Whether I need a quick hostess gift, or a thank you for a teacher, my hairdresser, or even the mailman - I can grab one and go! Our project today is a "Molten Chocolate Cake Mug" which is a gooey chocolate cake that bakes right in the mug! You'll make a super simple bag and fill it with the dry ingredients for the cake. Tuck a tag with the baking instructions into the mug and then add some decorations if you'd like.

Leave me a comment and let me know who you'll be giving Molten Chocolate Mugs to this holiday season - one lucky person will win a collection of my favorite books and patterns! Upload a photo of your finished project to the flicker album - I bet you'll get really creative with these!

Let's Get Started

Materials:

Bag: two contrasting prints - 9" x 10" each

Tie: 1/2 yd. rick rack/ribbon or a 2" x 20" fabric strip

Mug: 12 oz. or larger microwave safe mug (I have found $1 mugs at the dollar store and Goodwill, and WalMart has mugs for $2.49)

Sugar, Cocoa, and Flour

Cardstock and ribbon trim for the tag

Sewing Instructions:

 

A. Stitch the the 9" x 10" rectangles together along the long edge using a 1/2" seam. (shown above) Press the seam open.

B. Fold the Step A unit in half lengthwise, wrong side out. Stitch a 1/4" seam to make a long tube. Press seam open.  Terry's Tip: To avoid creasing the bag, let one edge of the bag extend over the edge of the ironing board.

C. Fold the lining over the focus fabric and press the top edge as shown. NOTE: The lining should be on the outside!

D. Adjust the bag so the seam is centered, and stitch a 1/4" seam across the bag bottom. 

E. Turn the bag right side out and tack the center of the tie to the back of the bag, 2" below the top. Put the Step F baggie inside and tie a bow.  

F. Cake Mix: Measure 1/4 cup sugar, 2 Tablespoons flour, and 2 Tablespoons cocoa into a small baggie. Shake it up to mix the ingredients.

  
G. Tag: Print the PDF file below onto cardstock or paper. Cut a tag out and glue it to coordinating cardstock. Trim the edge with a rotary cutter or decorative scissors. Punch a hole at the top and attach a ribbon if desired. Tuck the tag and a candy cane into the mug. 

Download Molten cake tags

 

H. Optional fabric ties: Press the 2" x 21" strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Open it and press both edges in to meet at the center crease. Refold the center crease and press again. Topstitch close to the long edges.

For Four Mugs

Prints: two fat quarters (18" x 21") or eight 10" x 10" layer cake squares

Ties:  2 yards of ribbon or one fat quarter (18" x 21")

Terry's Tip: If you enjoyed making these, you'll enjoy making a "Best Press Bag" as a special gift for your quilting friends!

Milwaukee Cookies Old and New

I grew up in Milwaukee and every year we'd go downtown to see the cookie display at the Electric Company, and we'd stand in line to get our copy of the annual cookie book. My sister and I chose a few new recipes to try each year, and my mom was happy that all the baking got done while she was at work. Some of the cookies didn't turn out - like the jam filled cookies that were really soggy; and others were so good that they became favorites. Here's a recipe that we tried because we had never heard of using cracker crumbs in cookies - and it was so good that I've made them every year! These fragile cookies are crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, and I can never eat just one!

Chocolate Kisses

3 egg whites (large)

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup soda cracker crumbs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar gradually, beating until very stiff. Beat in Vanilla. Gently fold in Cracker crumbs and melted chocolate. Drop from teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet (or parchment lined cookie sheet). Bake about 10 minutes.

 

Many of my grandmother's favorite recipes came from the earlier books - this is the cover of the 1958 book. One of the best surprises ever was the year my sister gave me a copy of this book - it has lots of good old traditional recipes inside.

The Electric Company printed books from 1928 all the way through the early seventies, and they have come out with some commemorative books in recent years. Go here to download copies of the recent books and to look at a collection of the covers throughout the years. I found "Frosted Maple Cookies" in the 2006 book - I think these will be one of the new cookies I'll try this year. It calls for boiling raisins for 10 minutes - and I've never done that. This year, I don't even have to be in Wisconsin to continue a Milwaukee tradition!

Don't forget to hop over to Pieces from My Heart  today for Sandy's brand new pattern - and remember to leave a comment so you are eligible for her giveaway! The other designers in the Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop will share their favorite recipes today - I wonder how many will be for cookies?

Favorites Old and New

Get started on a homemade holiday by hopping over to Gudrun's blog today. She has a free "Quilt As You Go" pattern that is sure to become a favorite. It's simple enough that you'll have plenty of time to whip one up in fall colors and another one for Christmas!  

During our Cross Country Christmas blog hop, enjoy a free pattern from each of the 12 designers and remember to comment on all 12 blogs to be eligible for a big grand prize! Tell your friends and enjoy the hop together - I look forward to meeting you and sharing some Christmas stories! 

And now for some old favorites . . . When I was growing up, my favorite Christmas presents were usually creative toys. I loved making my own flowers - each one different. Fun fun fun!

I spent hours and hours at the kitchen table baking plastic critters with a Mattel "Thingmaker" - my favorites were the ones you could put on the end of your pencil. I can still smell that hot plastic and hear the sizzle when it went into the water to cool.

My sister and I got each other surprise presents every year. One year, instead of splitting up in the toy store and being sneaky, we decided to get each other the exact same paint set. At first we let my mom think we both chose the same thing by accident - but we eventually "fessed up" and told her that we had planned it together. I still love paints and markers - in fact I often start my quilt designs on graph paper with crayons and markers.

Lucky 7

Less than 7% of you correctly guessed Sandy Gervais as the cute blond in the picture! Lots of guesses for Heather, Pat, Sherri, and Kari - probably because of those blond curls. Roseann even got a few votes!  I chose the 7th correct guess, so the prize goes out to Leslie Schmidt. Congratulations Leslie!! Just email me your address and I'll send your fabric right away.

Here is a picture of how Sandy looks today . . . nope, no resemblance at all, other than the fact that they are both facing the same way!

 

While downstairs tonight, I decided to cut out a Christmas quilt so I have a new quilt to work on during the Cross Country Christmas blog hop. I fell in love with a quilt on display at Bear Patch and had to get the kit! Usually I buy kits and then go home and use the fabrics for something completely different, but this time I want my quilt to be exactly like the one I saw in the shop! But wait - when I got home I found some cute snowmen and Christmas trees in my stash, so mine will be a little different after all. Can you tell which ones I added in? The fabrics are mostly from two fabric lines : "Have a Sheri Berry Christmas" by Lyndhurst Studio and "Be Merry" by Riley Blake. I'll keep you posted as I work on it this week!

A Christmas Angel

Here is one of the 12 Cross Country Christmas angels . . . can you guess which one? The only hint that I can give you is that it's not me - because my angelic photo is posted on another designer's blog. This could be Gudrun, Sandy, Pat, Heather, Pam, Kari, Terri, Sherri, Carrie, Roseann, or Linda . . . what do you think? As you are hopping around to the other designers' blogs, see if you can find my picture too.

You have until Saturday night to figure out which designer this is. Leave me a comment with your best guess and I'll draw a name (from the correct guesses) and post the winner on Sunday! The winner will receive some fat quarters from our Neutral Territory fabric line from Red Rooster. Good Luck!!

Count Me In

 

Time to start the countdown for our Designer Blog Hop! We have a great group of designers - six from Minnesota and six from all over the country. We're getting ready for the holidays with some easy projects for you to make just in time for gift giving. But first we want to have a little fun!

This Wednesday you'll have a chance to get to know us a little better - our "little" selves that is . . . Each designer will post a baby picture (not their own) and you can guess whose picture it really is. HINT: My picture will be the cute one! 

Beginning on Monday, November 9th, we'll each take a turn giving you instructions for a fun little project. Each day we'll all share holiday stories, recipes and photos with you. I can't wait to get started!

Nov. 9th. Gudrun: http://www.gudrun.typepad.com/
Nov. 10th. Sandy: http://www.piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot/
Nov. 11th. Terry: http://www.terryatkinson.typepad.com/
Nov. 12th. Pat: http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/
Nov. 13th. Heather: http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/
Nov. 14th. Pam: http://www.pamkittymorning.blogspot.com
Nov. 15th. Kari: http://www.newleafstitches.com/blog
Nov. 16th. Terri : http://www.whimsicals.typepad.com/
Nov. 17th. Sherri: http://www.thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com/
Nov. 18th. Carrie: http://www.lavieenrosie.typepad.com/
Nov. 19th. Roseann: http://www.rosebudscottage.typepad.com/
Nov. 20th. Linda: http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/